Alpena, Michigan: Holiday Inn Express and more

December 2024, week night, one night

View from king suite 407 in Holiday Inn Express Alpena, Michigan
Sitting area in king suite 407 below

Holiday Inn Express, king suite 407

I reserved a basic king guestroom in this hotel.  As a platinum member, we received an upgrade to a suite. Although we did not have a river view, the extra sitting area in the room was great. I also received the opportunity to pick a gift from the Christmas tree in the lobby, and received an extra 250 points. Some of the gifts were worth 5,000 points, so I guess I was not so lucky on that draw. 😁

King suite 407 in Holiday Inn Express Alpena, Michigan

This Holiday Inn Express still had Keurig coffee machines in the guestroom. They did not have a fresh brew machine in the lobby, like the location in East Lansing. The guestroom was spacious, comfortable, and very clean. The bathroom shower had glass doors, and a safe was provided in the entry closet.

Breakfast in Holiday Inn Express Alpena, Michigan

Lansing, Michigan: Holiday Inn Express, Visitor Bureau and area

November 2024, weekend, one night 

View from guestroom 326 in Holiday Inn Express & Suites East Lansing

I am sharing a few photos and some basic information from our Lansing visit last month.

Guestroom 326 in Holiday Inn Express & Suites East Lansing

Holiday Inn Express East Lansing, king suite guestroom 326

I reserved a basic king guestroom in this hotel. As a platinum member, I received an upgrade to a king suite. The guestroom was clean and comfortable. 

Guestroom 326 in Holiday Inn Express & Suites East Lansing

Petoskey, Michigan: Stafford's Perry Hotel, downtown, shopping, winery, brewery

March 2024, weekday, one night

We had a wonderful stay in Stafford's Perry Hotel in 2021, so we decided to book the spring getaway package for this stay. The weeknight Classic King room rate of $159 included: a $25 breakfast voucher, $40 in Noggin Bucks, and $50 in downtown shopping dollars. We thought this was a fabulous rate!

Views from guestroom 426 in Stafford's Perry Hotel

Stafford's Perry Hotel classic king guestroom #426

This guestroom is located on the top floor in the northwest corner of the hotel. We had a partial view of downtown and of the bay. Although it was not as spacious as the bay view guestroom we had in 2021, and it did not have a balcony, this was still a great room. It was clean, and we appreciated the views. 

Guestroom 426 in Stafford's Perry Hotel in Petoskey, Michigan

The comfortable bed was topped with good quality sheets and pillows. The room was well soundproofed, and the sleep quality was excellent.

Guestroom diagram on back of door in guestroom 426 in Stafford's Perry Hotel
Below: entrance to library across the hall from guestroom 426

Holland, Michigan: Marriott Courtyard, hiking, downtown

February 2024, weekday, one-night

View from guestroom 509 in Holland Marriott Courtyard
Above: sunset           Below: sunrise

Double queen guestroom 509 in Marriott Courtyard

Using points, I reserved a two queen bed guestroom with a balcony. We did not need two beds; however, a king bed guestroom with a balcony was not available. I was glad that we were able to reserve a balcony guestroom using points.

Guestroom 509 in Holland Marriott Courtyard

This guestroom is on the top floor, and overlooks downtown. It was clean, comfortable, quiet, and spacious. Refreshment amenities in the guestroom included a Keurig coffeemaker with supplies, ice bucket, and small fridge.

Guestroom 509 in Holland Marriott Courtyard

Kalamazoo, Michigan: Markin Glen County Park

September 2023, 3 nights, weeknights, campsite 27

Overlooking playground and beach area in Markin Glen Campground

Reservations and arrival

It is easy to make a reservation at this campground via phone, and the cost to camp for a full hook-up site is fair. Our arrival experience was a bit unpleasant, as we arrived shortly before the 3:00 PM check-in time, and were told we had to wait in the parking lot, or return after 3:00. Since we arrived on a Tuesday, and the campsites had all been vacated and cleared, this seemed ridiculous. Another camper arrived at 2:55 PM, and also pulled into the parking area to wait 5 minutes. 😳 At least the staff member had processed our paperwork when we arrived, so we did not have to go back out and enter the check-in line at 3:00 PM. Apparently, a lot of people thought Tuesday was a good day to arrive, as we observed a couple of campers in line, when we drove from the picnic area parking lot to our campsite. 

Campsite 27 in Markin Glen Campground

Campsite 27

Campsite 27 is the very last site on the outer loop. It is a grassy, private, and beautiful site. We got some rain during our stay, and this site floods a bit on the cement pad. 

Campsite 27 in Markin Glen Campground

Carnival Elation 7 Day Eastern Caribbean Ports of Call: Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Nassau

January 2023

We have been to all of these ports more than once prior to this trip. We did not book any excursions this time, and you can find more information about any of these ports by clicking on labels of interest at the bottom of this post.

 Carnival Elation in Grand Turk January 2023 

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM

You are supposed to have had COVID-19 vaccinations to disembark in Grand Turk. We received a letter the day before our arrival, saying that we needed to go to guest services to show our vaccination cards, if we wanted to go ashore. This information was then linked to our sail and sign cards that are scanned when disembarking. When we disembarked, people in the line next to ours were not being allowed off because they had not done this. This caused a brief holdup in that line while they were taken out of line to return to guest services or stay on the ship. Different passengers on shore told us they had not received the letter, and that they had not shown proof of their vaccination to anyone. They said they are vaccinated, so I am not sure if this had been taken care of by their travel agent, or another way, and they just did not recall it.

Carnival Elation in Grand Turk January 2023

Our experience in Grand Turk was peaceful, and we enjoyed it more than prior visits. We walked on the beach on both sides of the port, and not one person tried to rent us overpriced chairs or umbrellas. There is no charge to use lounge chairs at the cruise center or Margaritaville. You can find more information about this in my posts from February 2020 and 2022. The beach area to the right after you get ashore is less crowded; however, the swimming area on this side is also stonier, than the busier area on the left. You can read about the Junkanoo Party Bus, Rum Mixology & Beach shore excursion that we took last year in the February 2022 blog post.

Carnival Elation at Half Moon Cay January 2023

Detroit, Michigan: Hotel Indigo, downtown

November 2022, weekday, one night, king guestroom, floor 10?

We stayed in this hotel with a free night certificate, and I do not recall our guestroom number. We were on floor 10 or 11, and the view faced east toward Campus Martius Park.

View from guestroom in Hotel Indigo Detroit, Michigan 

Arrival and platinum perks

I received 600 bonus points at check-in. The agent did not say anything to me about this; I received the email notification that the points had been deposited before we checked out. 

Guestroom in Hotel Indigo Detroit, Michigan 

Bay City, Michigan: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Breweries, and more

We have visited the beautiful riverfront town of Bay City several times, and you can find more information about the area by clicking on the Bay City label at the bottom of this post. You can find more information about the DoubleTree Hotel in my March 2019 blog post.

Sunset from the riverwalk behind Real Seafood Company in Bay City

 November 2022, weeknight, one night, suite 431

Other than the fabulous suite upgrade, this stay was similar to previous stays. I have previously stayed in this hotel with gold and diamond status, and have always received an upgrade to a river view room. This time, when I looked on the app before arrival, our room assignment was a suite on floor 4. I had noticed that there is also a suite on floor 5; however, I did not try to exit the current room assignment to see if that one was available. I did not want to take a chance of losing the suite we had been assigned! 

Suite 431 in DoubleTree Hotel in Bay City, Michigan

We stopped at the front desk to get an extra key, cookies, and water when we arrived. The front desk agent did not say anything about breakfast, so I asked if I just needed to provide the guestroom number for breakfast. She said yes, although she did not recap how much I would receive. Our entire meal was comped the next day.

Balcony and view from suite 431 in DoubleTree Hotel in Bay City, Michigan

Marquette, Michigan: Tourist Park Campground, Biking, Hiking, Breweries

 September 2022, Weekdays, 3 nights

Beach and sunset at Marquette Tourist Park Campground

Marquette Tourist Park Campground, Campsite 77

I attempted to make an advance reservation online; however, the website for this campground is not user friendly, and it did not work properly. Apparently, I am not the only one who has had trouble with the reservation system, as I read complaints about the process from others when I researched this campground. Fortunately, I was able to reach someone in the office who was helpful with adjusting our reservation after it did not process as expected.

Marquette Tourist Park Campground
View from inside our camper on campsite 77, looking toward campsite 75 

Campsite 79 is a secluded site along the back tree line with electrical hookup. Most of the waterfront sites were already reserved when we made our reservation. During our stay, we were glad we had not chosen a non-secluded waterfront site, as it was quite windy and cool, and the wind was stronger at the sites closer to the water. Campsite 13 on the water had looked like a good site online; however, when we looked at it during our stay, it did not look like it would have been a good site for our trailer. It is not very level, and the camper sitting side would not have been facing the water. This is probably a great site for people with a truck camper or tent.

Beach area in Marquette Tourist Park Campground

This campground is located on the Dead River basin. It has a sandy beach with swimming area, and there are kayaks for rent inside the park. The paved bicycle trail alongside the park (Marquette City Multi Use Path) is well maintained and connects to Iron Ore Heritage Trail. 

Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan

It was an easy bike ride of about 2 miles one-way to Presque Isle Park. There are a couple of stopping points along the way, and the Presque Isle Bog walk is located just before the park entrance. Inside the park, there are hiking trails along the water and rocks, and there are hilly trails through the woods in the center of the park. Most visitors just stopped along the loop drive to explore the areas along the water and close to the road. We passed only one other hiker on the hilly inside loop trail. It was easy to hike all of the trails, other than a few steps or mild hills for the interior portion.

Lafayette, Indiana: Homewood Suites

September 2022, weekdays, 3 nights, building 3, king 1-bedroom 335 

Sunrise from guestroom 335 in Homewood Suites in Lafayette, Indiana

Check-in and arrival

This hotel has three buildings. I prefer top floor guestrooms, so I chose floor 3 in building 3 when I checked in on the app. You can, however, have a top floor guestroom on the second floor in buildings 1 and 2. Buildings 1 and 2 are closer to the lodge, and the three buildings are not connected. In hindsight, I wish I had taken a bit more time to look at the hotel building layout.

Guestroom diagram in guestroom 335 in Homewood Suites in Lafayette, Indiana

Building 3, king 1-bedroom 335

This guestroom is a corner room, and the view faces east. There were screens in the windows, which could be partially opened. We were glad to be able to open the windows, as the room had a strong perfume odor when we arrived. We had our room cleaned once during our stay, and fortunately, the scent was not present when we returned that day.

Guestroom 335 in Homewood Suites in Lafayette, Indiana

Troy, Ohio: Holiday Inn Express, Greenville Falls, Moeller Brew Barn

August 2022, weekdays, 2-nights

View from guestroom 333 in Holiday Inn Express Troy, Ohio

Holiday Inn Express, king guestroom 333

This is an extended guestroom near the center of the hall, overlooking the hotel entrance. 

King guestroom 333 in Holiday Inn Express Troy, Ohio

The guestroom was comfortable, spacious, and clean. 

King guestroom 333 in Holiday Inn Express Troy, Ohio